Introduction
Eduardo Mata (5 September 1942 – 4 January 1995) was a Mexican conductor and composer.
Career
Mata was born in Mexico City (Saavedra 2001). He studied guitar privately for three years before enrolling in the National Conservatory of Music. From 1960 to 1963 he studied composition under Carlos Chávez, Héctor Quintanar (es) and Julián Orbón (Saavedra 2001). In 1964 he received a Koussevitzky Memorial Fellowship to study at Tanglewood. There, he studied conducting with Max Rudolf and Erich Leinsdorf and composition with Gunther Schuller (Morehead and MacNeil 1991; Jacobs 1990; Delpar 1974,; Rehrig 1991–96, 2:).
He composed several works in the 1950s and 1960s, including three symphonies and chamber works, which include a sonatas for piano and for cello and piano (Saavedra 2001). His Third Symphony and some of his chamber works have been recorded (Tardiff and Mabunda 1996).
In 1965 he was appointed head of the Music Department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and conductor of the Guadalajara Orchestra (Kanellos 2003,; Stevenson 2005b; Meyer 2001). He also conducted the orchestra at the University, which later became the National Autonomous University of Mexico Philarmonic Orchestra. In 1972, he left Mexico to take the position of principal conductor of the Phoenix Symphony. The next year he was appointed as the Phoenix ensemble's music director, holding that position through the 1977–78 season (Saavedra 2001; Dent 2002, 194–95).
From 1977 to 1993 he was music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Saavedra 2001). and guest conductor of several famous orchestras in the U.S., Europe and Latin America. He recorded over fifty albums, most of them with the UNAM Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the London Symphony Orchestra. He was also appointed as Principal Conductor of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and was about to take up this post in January 1995 when he was killed.
On the morning of 4 January 1995, Mata and a passenger were en route from Cuernavaca, Morelos to Dallas, Texas. Mata was piloting his own Piper Aerostar. One engine failed shortly after takeoff, and the plane crashed during an emergency landing attempt. Both died in the crash, near Mexico City (Kozinn 1995).
| Cultural offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Philip Spurgeon |
Music Director, Phoenix Symphony 1972–1978 |
Succeeded by Theo Alcantara |
| Preceded by Max Rudolf |
Music Director, Dallas Symphony Orchestra 1977–1993 |
Succeeded by Andrew Litton |
Selected compositions
- Trio, for clarinet, drum, and cello, dedicated to Ralph Vaughan Williams (1957); OCLC 13364213
- Sonata, for piano (1960)
- Improvisaciones, for clarinet and piano (1961)
- Symphony No. 1 (1962)
- "Débora," ballet suite (1963)
- Los huesos secos (The Dry Bones), ballet (1963)
- Symphony No. 2 (1963)
- Aires (1964); OCLC 50515055
- Improvisación número 1, for string quartet and piano four-hands (1964)
- Improvisación número 2, for strings and two pianos (1965); OCLC 25201695
- Improvisación número 3, for violin and piano (1965); OCLC 2041840
- Sonata, for cello (1966), dedicated to Adolfo Odnoposoff
- Symphony No. 3, for winds and horn (1966); OCLC 20916143
Selected discography
Mata compositions
- Symphony No. 3, for wind orchestra and solo horn. Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, RCA Red Seal LP recording, 1 disc: analogue, 33⅓ rpm, stereo, 12 in. RCA Red Seal. México, D.F.: RCA Red Seal, 1971. OCLC 38079720.
- "Improvisación No. 2," for strings and two pianos. Orquesta Filarmónica de la UNAM, LP recording, 1 disc: analogue, 33⅓ rpm, stereo, 12 in. RCA Red Seal. México, D.F.: RCA Red Seal, [1970].